The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-07-23
MANUFACTURE OF GOLD LEAF.
work aud Wages of Gold Beaters-sOme
Interesting Information.

work aud Wages of Gold Beaters-sOms
Interesting Information.
Gold leaf is manufactured in about
twenty shops IN New York and it.
suburbs 1t IS estimated that 20. 800
ounces of gold are consumed annually
here in making gold leaf. Gold can be
beaten SO thin that il will take 200
leaves to equal the thickness of the sheet
upon which this paper is printed. An
ounce can be beaten down to $500 leaves
three and three Fights inches square
At an establishment in Hudson street a
reporter was told that the gold IS bought
Of brokers in small ingOts which are
melted into bars about quarter of an
inch thick. These are rolled into a rib
bon as thick as note paper. After passing
through the hands OF the beaters it is put
IN books. interleaved with MANILA tissue,
and twenty books are put in package.
No dross comes from the gold as it is
beaten. bat there are ragged edges that
drop off The leaf X used by giIders,
bOOkbinders, dentists and sign painters.
The wages Of gold beater5 are 81 a
week. A piece hand gets So a beating
A good one can possibly do two a week,
and as many as nine a month have been
done. Extra IS paid if the workman
beats the gold below five grains TO book.
Some can 20 70 four and one-half ana
even four grains per book.
How thin can you get it, a beater in
BrOOTne street was asked.
1T is beaten TO one three hundred
thousandth Of an inch thick at five grains
TO tie book. 1t it gets down to four
grains it Is one TIN &c hundred and sixty
thousandth Of an inch. The New York
system employs men only, with girls TO
do the cutting. The German system en-
plOys children Of 3 or O. On that system
men DO the beating and girls do the prin-
ing and filling.
How Is the gold beaten?''
1T IS beaten in nolds made in London
from the mte5unes Of cows, cleaned and
vanished With a secret preparation man
ufactured by Puckridge 81 Nephew, of
London. The skins are put in packages
Of 900 skins each. and three Of these
mods go to beating
How much gold is there in a beat
ing?''
Fifty pannyweights in beating. The
ribbon of solid gold is divided into 40
or $50 pieces, each about an inch square.
These are put into Clutch made Of
French paper four inches square. That
Is beaten until we get the gold to the
edges. 1t IS handled with pincers at that
time. 1t IS beaten half an hour The
pieces are then piled twenty on top of
each other. They are then cut in four
and doubled over, making 72O. They are
then put in a .schOder or finer mold cut
down. We fill the schoder with those
leaves in the middle, and beat it out 10
the edges. We beat it about two hours.
until we draw about ten pennyweights off
the schoder "
Does it have to b. kept dryz'
We have 10 keep the windows shut:
bat the clutches schOdeEs and noIds take
up 80 much moisture that they have to be /
put in a hot mold to press the moisture
ont
Does that finish it,
On, no. The leaves are cut again /
into four with a tool called a wagon, /
making 2, ego, but the mods hold only |
?. 700. The rnoIds are beaten four hours. !
at the end Of zach hour there being what |
rs called a close, when they are heated /
Then the heater Is through with it, and /
thu cutter takes it. This IS the only work /
Hone By the girls in New York. They /
an cut from thirty To sixty-four books a /
lay, at two and a half cents 4 book. The /
EFF when it gets IN q hook il 90 thin that /
& j. handled only with the breath.
How IS the work tested<''
Only with the eye There is no rule /
,bDut the business, but It ia purely a mat
or u skill and judgment. The best il
he kind used on glass, which shows all
II notice gold heaters usually work ia
asenneuts Why is that
4 6rToer blow can be given. If On the
irst story there is a Jar. which daterior-
tss the quality.
Is there any sduJterstion IN the b7lsi-
esss
The Germans heat what = called 4
METAL .e5f with an alloy. Il IS solJ very
heap. It IS oieonsT zarine II gold leaf.
nd viii rsrnish Much # It is used by
Do6bIodars
'.H heD did the trade START
L Is very ancient. II - mentioned III
~ Bible. cold Leaf vas used on Solo
1on e temple The Chinese k4at z9Id
-af but il cannot compare J quality
zi-u American leaf ~l4aa u tn= NINA
1en rad -ro1hs= efh taep employers
at hey sDoG en5ea 5 They got the
rnDloyer INTO tnalr Issze rom and then
- after another took q big 0ara out II
= Ei-zF. <ar Ir.yE --75o